Another Typical Love Story
by EneriRenie
Summary: The setting: still a ninja village. The characters: a lazy boy and a domineering female. The ending? Easy enough. The epilogue? Far, far off.


**disclaimer:** Only borrowing, thanks very much.

A companion fic of sorts to my other Naruto fic, **A Typical Love Story**. You don't necessarily have to read that one before reading this, but it would be nice if you do n.n  
Dedicated to **Apple-chan**, because. It's her birthday and I love her. And she requested for this. Hehe.

**Another Typical Love Story**

The Setting

Once again, there is a boy and a girl, who, coincidentally (or not), also lives in the village called Konoha. As we are all aware, this village called Konoha is not simply a village—it is a ninja village. This village is where the boy and the girl were born, lived for the past seventeen years of their lives, and will most likely die defending it.

But before we think of this boy and girl dying, which is a thought depressing in itself, let us first focus on their love lives. Living in a ninja village certainly doesn't make even HAVING love lives easy. What free time they usually have is devoted to training.

But still, you'd be surprised at the amount of teenage couples walking around, trying not to look like a couple and being very obvious in the process. For some, it's just that easy.

It's not for our boy and girl. But it was also typical of them to be so.

The Characters

_A. The Stereotypical Bored, Lazy Male_

His name is Nara Shikamaru. A boy with an IQ so high you would probably feel dumb just standing next to him. When one learns about his high IQ, one would probably imagine him to be like those child prodigies we always see in commercials: a chess master at the age of six (although he probably DID master shougi at that age), a composer at the age of nine, an accomplished painter at seven, and so on…but noooooo. Shikamaru, despite his intelligence, would drop dead before we can see him do all those things. He hates doing things as complicated as those because he is lazy.

He is lazy and he hates doing complicated things and that makes him complicated, although he wants nothing more than his life to be utterly simple. Here is a boy whose dream in life is to be an average ninja, to have an average-looking wife, have an average number of children (read: one), and to earn just enough so he could spend the rest of his days lazing around, doing nothing but play shougi.

A simple dream, which, to his dismay, seems to be slowly fading away as they grow older. He is very much aware that he is fast on his way to becoming jounin, even if he's just fine being chuunin. Hell, he didn't even WANT to be a chuunin, he didn't even do any fighting to earn the rank, but he became one anyway. It was noted in his file that it was because his intelligence, strategizing and superb handling of the situation.

His _intelligence_. He supposes he could use it to make his dream come true, but why fight destiny? It's just too troublesome. So he just makes himself content with watching clouds whenever he has the time.

You could swear you could see a ghost of a smile on his usual poker face as clouds roll by above him.

_B. The Stereotypical Loud-mouthed, Domineering Female_

Her name is Yamanaka Ino. A girl who spent much of her younger ninja years in front of the mirror primping herself up than doing actual training. For indeed, Ino is beautiful and she knows it. Long ago, what makes her fight back is because someone ruined her hair, not because of her innate ninja skills.

But that was long ago. Now, she trains hard like the rest of them because these are different times (although she still has a vanity full of cosmetics). Now, she is good friends with the girl she once fought with all her might because they had the same stupid crush on the guy who has now left their village and turned traitor (although they still bicker a lot—Ino is still Ino-pig and Sakura is still Forehead Girl). Now, she has happily relinquished her I-heart-Sasuke-kun badge, because. Falling for the guy because he's handsome is one thing, falling for the guy because he ran away is impossible.

Now, she is still as bossy and loud as ever. Shikamaru once muttered that maybe Ino and Naruto were long-lost siblings because they are both bossy AND most especially noisy—a remark which earned him a good slap. No one says "no" to Ino—and those who do cannot escape without a scratch (or a bruise, more likely). When she wants something, she sets out to get it. She'll charm the pants off you, and when that doesn't work—well, there's always strangulation.

Her facial expressions can change from blissfully happy to murderous in a heartbeat. And when her face is impassive, you could still read her emotions through her eyes.

In her rare quiet moods, you could catch her staring at the clouds—her face expressionless, but her eyes twinkling.

The Story

Of COURSE by now you would know that Shikamaru and Ino have known each other since they were practically in diapers. Meaning, Ino has been bossing Shikamaru (and also Chouji, of course) since they were practically in diapers. And Shikamaru always follows her every order and whim because it's just too troublesome to fight back. (Besides, he once did, when they were only four. He came home with his right cheek swollen.)

Their fathers, being teammates once, rightly predicted that their children would belong to one team also. And two of the fathers (the father of Shikamaru and the father of Ino to be more precise, to dispel any other notion out there) also predicted that their children would one day get married.

Of course, Ino and Shikamaru had always gotten along superbly, and even more so now, ever since Ino had stopped yakking about Sasuke. Training together had strengthened their companionship, and their bond had thickened due to the fact that either one of them could die while on a mission. These times are uncertain times. Chouji, Shikamaru and Ino would get together every time one of them returned from a mission—a tradition started by Ino (whoever returned treats the other two to ramen). Shikamaru always finds this tradition of theirs troublesome, but he was always happy to see his friends.

Now, both of them being seventeen, Shikamaru's father and Ino's father think that it's high time the two teens started going out. Since Shikamaru turns deaf the moment his father mentions the word "date", and Ino would do nothing but turn red and amazingly shut up when _her_ father mentions the word "date"; BOTH fathers decided to arrange it themselves.

Both of them were wrecks during that first date. Shikamaru's mother practically had to groom him herself because of his utter unwillingness to go; Ino kept retouching her makeup and only stopped when she realized it was, in fact, too thick. The lip gloss she was holding nearly flew out of her hand when the doorbell resounded throughout the house.

"I'll get it," she had said, hastily stuffing her things inside a small handbag. "And otousan?" she called sweetly just before going downstairs.

"Yes, Ino-chan?" her father said innocently.

"Stay right _there_. And put away that camera."

Both of them were actually worrying about what they would say to each other. It was one thing to talk to each other and just…well, talking—it was another to talk to each other while on a _date_. But things went from awkward to back to normal when Ino saw what Shikamaru was wearing and positively went livid. "Shikamaru, you don't wear _sandals_ with long-sleeved polo shirts! And does your _hair _have to be tied like that?"

"All that preparing is just too troublesome," he had complained. "And you have too much makeup on." Which earned him a slap.

Shikamaru had this bad feeling that that night would turn out to be a disaster, and he was right. The restaurant was too fancy, they both declared the food to be inedible, and they both didn't like the movie Shikamaru's father chose for them. They walked out on it and went to the Ichiraku instead for a late dinner (the earlier one could hardly be called dinner) and spent the rest of the evening there, just talking.

And so started another…tradition, if you will. Both of them decided it was best if they arranged their dates themselves, since their fathers are obviously lousy date planners. No more fancy dinners and movies that suck, no more suits and dresses and makeup. No more picking the girl up from her house; Ino insisting they just meet at the agreed place (due to the fact that she had a sneaking suspicion that her father was still trying to take a picture of them together). Ino, Shikamaru was surprised to learn, is happy even if their date just consisted of eating ramen and talking. They would often bump into Naruto and Hinata at the Ichiraku in the process.

In fact neither of them consider their activity as "dating". It was Ino who came up with another term, when they bumped into Gai-sensei and Lee one night, and Gai asked them in his booming voice if they were out on a date.

"We're not out on a date," Ino had said just as loudly, drawing even more attention from the nearby tables. (Shikamaru had buried his head in his hands by this time.) "We're simply spending time together." It had taken all of her willpower not to retort, _What about you two, are YOU out on a date?_

Spending time together. Shikamaru didn't mind. In fact, it sounded nicer.

It was during these dates—oh sorry, I mean _spending time together_ thing, when Ino started confiding to Shikamaru all her thoughts, her fears, her dreams. How she decided to actually train, and train hard because she was afraid of getting left behind. That her greatest fear is that someone close to her—her father, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sakura—would return from a mission dead. That she thought of becoming an ANBU, once, but didn't think she can even get to jounin level.

It was during these _spending time_ whatever you want to call it, when Ino would actually shut up for once and ask Shikamaru about _his_ thoughts, his fears and dreams. It was a while before Shikamaru told her his dream of having a simple life. He was sure she was going to laugh at him, or most likely smirk and say, "That's just like you, Shikamaru."

He didn't expect her to prop her head on her hands, stare dreamily at the ceiling of Ichiraku and say, "A simple life…yeah, that sounds nice. Sometimes I wonder, what if we're not ninjas, how would our life go? Have you ever thought about that, Shikamaru?"

They started _spending time together_ about once a week, and then it turned to twice a week—to almost everyday, or as often as they could get together while being sent off on missions. Sometimes they take Chouji with them because they didn't want to leave him out. Thankfully their teammate and good friend doesn't mind their _spending time together_ that much—in fact Chouji would stare at the two of them with a cheeky grin on his face that would make his eyes disappear.

And Ino discovers that, by golly, it's just that easy after all. It's easy to grab his hand while walking and swing it playfully as he protests and asks her to stop fooling around. It's easy to lean her head on his shoulder and hug his arm in the process. It's easy to wrap her arms around his waist to hug him goodbye as he brings her home after their night out. It's easy to tell him to stop being so goddamn stiff whenever she demonstrates her affections for him and just reciprocate.

And Shikamaru discovers that it's actually easy (and it always has) to just follow Ino and do what she wants. It's easy to place a casual arm around her shoulders and pull her close as they sit at their usual table in the Ichiraku. It's easy to brush her hair away from her eyes whenever they get loose from her usual bun. It's easy to just lie down on the grass with her as they watch the clouds go by—an activity he thought she would hate (which she did, for a moment, when she found out her shirt had grass stains on it). It's easy to say to her to just lean on him so her shirt won't get stained anymore as they waited for the stars to come out.

It's easy for her to say, "Bye, Shikamaru, love you!" with a wink and a bone-crushing hug before she enters her home; and it's easy for him to reply, "Yeah, yeah, love you too," followed by a string of muttered words that sounds like "silly" and "annoying", but in a strangely affectionate tone of voice.

It's easy for them to talk about anything under the sun, except the one thing that they really should talk about: them.

Honestly. What _are_ they anyway? It drives Ino mad every night before she goes to sleep, thinking about it, about him, about _them_. Since they've been going out—she can say this to herself—for a long time now…what does that make them, exactly? Is Shikamaru her…boyfriend? She blushes beet red in the dark and pushes her face into her pillow at this thought.

It would appear, though, that Shikamaru doesn't give their _status_ much thought at all. This became evident when Ino threw a fit one evening because her boyfriend was two hours late in arriving for their da—I mean, _spending time together_ thingy. He had just come from a mission, and he was tired and hungry and beat, he didn't notice Ino gasp as the word "boyfriend" left her mouth, and _his_ mouth had said, "Am I your boyfriend?"

Ino opened her mouth to retort, when she suddenly closed it again. All the fight seemed to drain from her as she slumped back down into her chair. "No," she had replied. "No, I guess you're not."

And then she asked him to take her home.

The End

The next day, during training, Ino keeps her mouth shut and concentrates on reducing the wooden dummy in front of her to dust. She does this so viciously that the three males around her chose wisely to avoid her. Sakura appears right after their training to whisk Ino away, but not before sending Shikamaru a pointed look.

Shikamaru, for all his intelligence, cannot figure out what exactly went wrong between him and Ino. He couldn't understand why she responded that way when he asked her—and why did she seem even more miffed when he complied with her request to take him home? Girls are so troublesome.

The people around him are troublesome, too. Everyone can see that Ino is pissed with him right now, and they all seem to understand why _but_ him, and they all seem determined to let him know what they thought of his situation, regardless of whether he asked or not.

"You must be too unromantic," Asuma-sensei had suggested over a game of shougi. Unromantic? _Unromantic?_ If all those hand-holding and cloud watching and stargazing sessions aren't romantic, Shikamaru didn't know _what_ is.

His father jokes that maybe they weren't spending enough time together, to which Shikamaru replies with only a glare. Hell, he and Ino were practically attached at the hip. Is his father suggesting they _sleep_ together too? He flushes at the thought, even if the _sleep_ he envisions in his mind is mere…um, sleeping, and not…_that_.

"What exactly would you call the relationship you have with Ino?" Temari asks him after a mission briefing one day.

"I don't know," he replies petulantly. "It's too troublesome to put in terms." To which Temari snaps that HE is becoming troublesome to Ino because he insists on being an asshole and to the rest of them because he is obviously moping.

His strategy is to let Ino cool off for a few days before cautiously approaching her again. He proved to be correct, but Ino is the one who approached him first, after training a few days later. Asuma-sensei winks at them both before leaving, to which both of them return with glares; Chouji flashes them both a grin before following their sensei, to which both of them return with small smiles.

Ino finds her fingernails quite interesting for several moments before finally raising her eyes to meet Shikamaru's, although keeping her head bowed. She apologizes for her conduct the other night, and for jumping to conclusions about their relationship. She wants things to go back as they were before, so they should just forget that night and continue…um, _spending time together_ as friends.

"But we're not friends," Shikamaru says, then abruptly stops as he gives himself a mental slap. Damn his mouth, it keeps saying things without his permission.

"Oh?" Ino says, eyebrow raised to conceal the hurt. "What are we, then?"

"We're…more than friends," he finishes lamely.

Ino demands an explanation before she slaps him for being wearisome. How can he say it? He has too many things in his mind about them. He tries anyway because it's far more troublesome to be at the receiving end of Ino's wrath. He tries to explain how he hates terminologies in relationships because it puts pressure and expectations that, when not met, will cause them to break up sooner or later. How their relationship doesn't have to _have_ a name because he's sure he's going to spend the rest of his life with her anyway and he actually wants to, God only knows why because she's such a troublesome girl—

"Shikamaru!" Ino stamps her feet in frustration. "You're such a troublesome person for someone who HATES troublesome things! Why don't you make it all simple and just say that you love me! GOD only knows how **I** could love an exasperating, stupid idiot like y— "

He makes things even simpler. He kisses her.

The Epilogue

THERE'S NO EPILOGUE! GO AWAY!

Really, what more do you want? It's a happy ending, isn't it?

Okay, fine. Shikamaru and Ino marry, say after ten years, and have five troublesome but lovable children.

Shikamaru wraps his arms around Ino in bed, whispering into her neck, "I love you," just before he closes his eyes to sleep.

She murmurs sleepily, "Just remember who said it first," as she snuggles closer to him.

**This is the end. Really. **


End file.
